A former executive producer of the NBC show “The Blacklist” has filed suit against Sony, alleging he was fired after being wrongfully blamed for a workplace scuffle.

Michael Watkins is a veteran TV director and cinematographer. He was an executive producer for several seasons of “The Blacklist,” the NBC crime show starring James Spader.

According to his suit, he was fired in February 2018 after he allegedly “laid hands” on a male camera assistant. Watkins alleges that the claim was never investigated, and that if it had been, the company would have discovered that it was the assistant who become frustrated and laid hands on Watkins.

Watkins claims that Laura Benson, a co-executive producer on the show, used the incident as a pretext “in order to facilitate her own rise in position and power” on the show. He also alleges that after he was gone, executives bad-mouthed him to various people, saying that he was “blackballed” at Sony for the “beating” of the camera assistant.

“It is now known that the alleged basis for Watkins’ termination was simply a ruse to fire him without cause,” the suit alleges.

Watkins is suing Sony, Woodridge Productions, and Benson, as well as co-executive producer William Roe and Jordan Feiner, a senior VP at Sony.

“Our client believes he is the victim of an unlawful termination and scorched earth campaign to discredit him professionally,” William Brewer III, Watkins’ attorney, said in a statement. “To date, he has been denied any true explanation for his termination or the opportunity to confer with Human Resources — all in apparent violation of the rights Sony should afford to its employees.”

Sign Up for Daily Insider Newsletter

Growing regulatory encroachments into its games business, a smaller than expected spin-off for its music division, and a fourth quarter profits drop, pointed to a troubling year for Chinese tech giant Tencent. Its financial results for the full 2018 period, while delivering profits of nearly $1 billion a month, appeared to bear out that thesis. [...]

Splice, a favorite of music creators that allows access to a library of three million rights-cleared sounds, announced today that the company closed a Series C funding round at $57.5 million. That brings Splice’s total amount raised to roughly $102 million since its launch in 2013. It raised a Series B in November of 2017. [...]

WGA leaders are set to meet Wednesday night with a group of showrunners who are raising concerns about the guild’s handling of negotiations with talent agents over the issue of packaging fees and agency-affiliated productions. The meeting is set for 7:30 p.m. at WGA West headquarters. WGA West president David Goodman is expected to attend. [...]

A horse-racing announcer has sued the Weinstein Co., claiming that the company infringed on his trademarked phrase in a 2014 Bill Murray movie. Dave Johnson is the man behind “And down the stretch they come!,” which he began using while calling races in Illinois in the 1960s. The phrase took off when Johnson moved to [...]

Mom + Pop Music has promoted Hallie Anderson to co-GM and head of marketing and Jessica Page to co-GM and head of digital, the company announced today. They had previously served as VP of marketing and VP of digital strategy, respectively. “Being able to promote, empower and support Hallie and Jess in their new positions [...]

What kind of a boss will Disney be? That’s a question facing employees at 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight, National Geographic Partners, FX Networks, and other assorted parts of Rupert Murdoch’s former media empire. Wednesday was their first full day as staffers of the Walt Disney Co. and the initial moves have done little to [...]

Jay Wilson has been named VP of publicity for Mascot Label Group, the company announced today. A veteran of Republic, Glassnote and Universal Records, In his new position Wilson will conceive and implement media strategies for the company and its roster of artists such as Beth Hart, James Morrison, P.O.D., Robert Randolph and the Family [...]